Machine for Living: Cogs in the machine
If you’re unable to appreciate something ‘out there’ you might find MACHINE FOR LIVING quite difficult. I believe performance art is meant to be difficult. It’s experiential, sometimes sensory, and (mostly) bravely on the cutting edge.
In MACHINE FOR LIVING, we’re exposed to an experience where we become players too – potential property buyers. We are shown each room by the estate agents who, as they do, oversell the positive aspects of the house. I would have liked them to be slightly slimier and parasitic, playing to the comedy of the stereotype.
As described by the creators, it’s part performance, part exhibition. The installation works are fascinating; the history of a house is layered within it. The performers are intriguing: some frightening, some pensive, some funny, some warped.
I’ll ruin the surprises if I describe too much, the discoveries necessary for the work to be effective. So…
Secrets and obsessions are explored. Mirrors reflect us as a woman relentlessly dresses, undresses, redresses. At what point does vanity become debilitating? Newspapers in the bathroom, washing away under the shower – is all media becoming gutter press and going down the drain? Or, do we try rinse off responsibility for the world around us?
The dining room serves up a real treat. Bones and eggshells adorn the table. Elizabethan elements in costuming speak to history and the entrenched rituals of dining etiquette. We’re all so polite. The servants beg for a morsel, a taste of the pie, but are denied… Who’s really hungry? Are equal portions being served? When your belly is full, do you think of those whose never are?
I think festival goers tend to steer away from performance art out of fear: of not understanding it, or the ever-dreaded being ‘called up on stage’, or simply the real questioning confrontation. Because it is unconventional. Because it is unpredictable. With only four fringe performance art productions against the excessive 100+ dramas at this year’s NAF… it’s clear a battle lies ahead for South African performance artists to stake their claim in the theatre/art industries. But with provocative work such as MACHINE FOR LIVING, it appears they’re ready for the fight.
Aspects of MACHINE FOR LIVING remind us that so much of everyday life is a form of performance art. Who did you get primped for this morning? What meaningless chit-chat did you have today? MACHINE FOR LIVING suggests our daily rituals and interactions are performative; well, for those that haven’t freed themselves from the shackles of social expectation. I’m one of them too…
There are a lot of questions above, yes, but if we’re not asking questions, the artists aren’t doing it right.
— Sarah Roberson
MACHINE FOR LIVING is on today (11/07) and tomorrow at 6pm.